Buckle up!

 

Sidecar Sunday

 What's so funny?

Another job you may not want to do; armature winder

 

Imperial Airways 1935

  Poster for Imperial Airways by British artist and designer Theyre Lee-Elliott. The stylized, streamlined shapes come from his famous "Speedbird" emblem of 1932, which was adopted by BOAC after they purchased Imperial Airways in 1939 and is still being used by its successor, British Airways.

 

Standard wire gauge

 No name on this, nothing at all on the back, but a handy little thing to have lying in the bottom of your tool box I guess...

Stutz Bearcat 1920

 Just the thing for the man about town in that time...

Edmunds custom heads

  Eddie Edmunds was a mechanic in Portland, Oregon in the 1930s when he started developing and manufacturing intake manifolds and performance heads. After several years of manufacturing there he moved to Southern California where there were more mold makers and aluminum casting. He made these parts for many engines but eventually went bankrupt in the late 1940s. It's a wonder these parts still turn up. After that his focus changed to installing air conditioning units in cars. Apparently, he passed away in 1969.

Siren Fire chief car

Another windup car by Louis Marx, from the 1930s.

 

Steam Yacht Lyndonia

  A picture to hang in the mancave. The Lyndonia was a yacht built for Cyrus Curtis of the Curtis Publishing Company of Saturday Evening Post and the Ladies Home Journal fame. It was only steam powered for 5 years, the steam engine was replaced with diesel engines in 1925. 

The vessel was acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1941 and commissioned as the USS Southern Seas (PY-32). While serving in the Pacific theatre it was unfortunately sunk during a typhoon off Okinawa on October 9, 1945, with the loss of 13 crew members. 

From the Facebook USS Southern Seas group. Interesting reading..

Ford 5-Z-829 wrench

 Another Ford Model T tool. The left end is for adjusting the bands in the transmission and the right end fits the oil pan drain bolt.

One of my vices is vises, Armstrong Pipe Vice

 

  Frank Armstrong and Henry House started working in the sewing machine factories in Bridgeport Conn but formed their own company in 1870, making steam fitting tools and equipment. House soon left, Armstrong continued the company and in 1882 introduced this pipe vise under  U.S. Patent No. 269,141 featuring the hinged yoke and hardened steel jaws. The company thrived during the steam era and was around at least into the 1950s. 

Short C-23 Sherpa

  To paraphrase interior designer Dorothy Draper "If it looks right, it will fly right".  This isn't one of those. It looks like the box an airplane came in, though to be fair, it was considered to be good and reliable, though slow. Short made 60 of these STOL transports between 1984 and 1997, the biggest operators were the US Army and Air Force, who have both retired the aircraft. 

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Bikes in the 'hood, KZ650

Considered fast in its day, the KZ650 followed the styling lead of the Z1. I remember them mostly in the green. Get a front fender, man!

 

Utica Tools 2001-8 pliers

  Difficult to read the stamped text, but these are "Side Cutting Pattern Button's Pliers" made by Utica Tool. The wire cutter portion is unique. They were manufactured in the late 1930s and into the 40s, the rough black finish might have been wartime production.

 

1968 Fiat 850 cutaway drawings

 Some nice technical cutaways from the Dutch 850 Fiat Special instruction book.

Swallow Sidecars, Model 4, 1928

 

We used to make things in this country #381; Cast iron kettles

 

Here's a cast iron kettle made by the Terreau and Racine company of St. Paul St., Quebec City, a maker of kitchen kettles and other containers- hollowware as it's known.... 

 Charles Terreau arrived from France and started his foundry in 1850, originally making metal fittings for sailing ships. When he passed away 15 years later, his wife continued the business, adding Mr. Racine as president. In the mid 1920s they started making components for refrigeration systems. In 1987 they merged with another company, becoming TR LC Refrigeration and Ventilation.  More at Cast Iron Canada. 

Exact C Clamp

  These "Exact" C-clamps were manufactured by the Exact Level & Tool Manufacturing Company, which was better known for their torpedo levels. Previous post here. The company started in the 1930s in Highbridge, New Jersey and lasted till 1985 when it was bought by the Hyde company and shut down.

Locomotive Catawissa

  The Little Schuylkill Navigation, Railroad & Coal Co. was incorporated in 1826. Amazingly, that was 200 years ago.  As that time predates the common use of photography there are no photographs of the first locomotives.

 This one, the Catawissa, was made in England by Edward Bury of Liverpool and was one of two ordered by the company. By 1832 it was running a 28 mile track in Pennsylvania from Port Clinton to Tamaqua. This photograph of unknown age shows the locomotive later in its career with an added cab, stack, pilot and sandbox. The locomotive was still on the property in 1863 and was sold  to the American Dredging Company in 1871. 

Fashion Friday, riding gear

Norton Commando, for the space race?

 

Motor Cycle May 1967

Developing the Triumph Daytona bikes...

Grapple Hook

 

  This hook is actually shown upside down. The hooks are intended to grab into the sides of a barn beam to give a hooking point for a pulley system. It was patented by Seymour Rogers of Pittsburg, and made by Aaron J. Nellis & Co.  

 A.J. Nellis & Co. manufactured hay hooks and track systems in the late 1800s as farmers started to move to quicker methods of filling barns with loose hay. They became widely known as a "Manufactory of Harpoon Horse Hay Forks" and heavy iron barn grapples. The company faded as the hay harvest shifted to balers. 

US100330A   

Today's big job

 Admittedly not a good photo, but you get the idea. A  full size Excello Bridgeport-type lathe has a new home. Its too heavy to lift with the tractor bucket but we did get it out and up, on and off the trailer and into its new home. 

  I clearly would have to work on my camera skills if I wanted to start a Youtube channel.

We used to make things in this country #380; Hornet chainsaw

 Here we have a chain saw from the late 1940s made in Guelph, Ontario. This saw had a two stroke engine that used a float type carb. The problem with a float-type carb is that it only works in one orientation. In order to make a horizontal cut, some means of feeding the engine had to be devised. The Hornet's solution was a longitudinal crankshaft with the shaft out the front. A right angle gear mechanism allowed the blade to rotate 90 degrees while the power head stayed in place. That's one way of doing it!

  Hornet Industries was started by a John J Smith after WW2. The company manufactured one and two man saws. In 1950 the Mall Tool Company bought the company and sold the saws under their own name. In 1958 Remington bought the Mall Tool company, moving chainsaw manufacture to Desa Manufacturing which closed in 2008.

One of my vices is vises, machinist milling vise

No name on this one that I could find...

 

Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe sedan

 

 Best guess, maybe 1951? 

Le Costaud jack

A French-made sturdy (translation of costaud) little jack made to lift heavy furniture, appliances or doors just enough to get rollers or moving pads underneath. 

 

William Hjorth wrench- pliers

 The "Lightning" wrench-pliers by the William Hjorth company.  The company was founded in Jamestown NY in 1902 to made a line of hand tools for plumbing and other trades. They were known for their multi-function tools like this one but also made pipe and adjustable wrenches. The company lasted about 30 years.

 

Safety wire pliers

 Common in aviation and racing where bolts cannot be allowed to come loose. Run your safety wire through the bolt head and nearby tab, grab the two ends with the pliers, pull the center knob back to turn the pliers to make a nice regular twist. No name on them but a couple of decades ago these seemed to show up at surplus stores,  these are first ones I've seen in a while.

 

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Sidecar Sunday

Seen at the Brooklands Museum. Grubbs "pullman" Tandem with add-on. I can't imagine it handled well.